Ray

Wow didn't expect that it will have high standard of sophistication.

Netflix movies generally come out with a decent amount of noise. This was no different.

A totally reverse nature of TV series, I mean four concluding movies I was really looking forward to it.

Sadly after watching all, feels like none of them were even average. A total letdown!

I have many critical complains for the 4 parts series. But the plot is itself so loose, I wouldn't be able to go past that in a regular sized review.

Ali Fazal looked like he's playing an entrepreneur in a college play. Having an entourage walk while you give instructions and then enter with style is done a gazillion times with exact same camera angles and punching dialogues to show he's a star entrepreneur when that's far away from real world. I wouldn't pick up nitty gritty details until when people call it a masterpiece. The going back his "past" scene is full of Old Boy when the protagonist goes to his school and chases his younger self through the multiple floors. That scene is picked up blatantly from the dark gory classic. Though the twist is fun, until then nothing is.

KKs story has so many loose ends. It builds up to give you expectations towards a horror thriller while it deviates directions midway to make a baba it's main character out of the blue and that leaves us wondering what was the purpose of spending so much build up on others. They could have brushed those plots much quicker. You are made to care for other characters like his land owner, boss and his crush, only to be made unimportant in the final 3/4th of the story. That leaves me with, "really?"

Manojs story is well directed, they cleverly use a theater as an exposition machine to the backdrop. But you can see the twist from a mile coming. When the twist starts looking predictable, I believe the director should rush to the ending than make us wait to offer the same. It's a terrible drag.

The final one has Harshvardhan Kapoor. Enough said. Just to add a little more, it's another terrible drag.

The short stories have been given more details to enlarge them into a full fledged 1 hour independent films, which led to the demise of what could have been an engaging interesting set of short films.

"There is always room for improvisation "- Satyajit Ray(showed before the last episode starting) But that doesn't mean you can change the soul of a story. You people are naming the series as RAY, creating completely different stories without even thinking what was the morality of the original ones, then you shouldn't 'promote' it using Satyajit Ray's name. Only the part 3 of the series is good because it has preserved the point of view of the original one. But rest of the three are completely new stories with just a little bit of resemblance with the original stories. I'm not saying that the stories are bad. They are somewhat good. But the anthology should not be called as "Ray".

1. Hungama Hain Kyun Barpa

Why aren't more movies set in a train? Director Abhishek Chaubey has done a brilliant job yet again, I just hope people do notice and appreciate his effort this time. Although Manoj Bajpayee has been around for a very long time, I feel like he has been rediscovered through OTT platforms. What a performance that was, absolutely spellbinding! Audience never really cared about actors like Manoj Bajpayee or Kay Kay or Pankaj Tripathi, despite the fact that these guys are trained actors and have worked in theatre. But with the explosion of digital platforms, which sends content directly to the viewers, allowing the audience to watch it at a time of their own convenience and from their own comfort zone, the hidden gems of Indian Cinema are finally receiving the recognition and appreciation that they always deserved. In 'Hungama Hai Kyun Barpa', the wide range of emotions displayed by Manoj are so real, you feel like the character of Musafir Ali has come to life. It doesn't remain a fictional story after a while, you end up becoming a fellow passenger in the train witnessing the proceedings as they happen. But Manoj Bajpayee is not alone in this wonderful film, his fellow passenger is yet another genius actor discovered very late by the Indian filmmakers. Gajraj Rao playing Aslam Baig has done a phenomenal job. Every single time, it's such a joy to watch this actor, I find it quite shocking that it took everyone so long to realize the potential of this brilliant actor. 'Hungama Hai Kyun Barpa' is without a doubt the best film of this anthology and a must watch for everyone.

2. Spotlight

Spotlight is the story of a one note actor, a man who wants to become a serious actor but doesn't even know how to act. Interestingly, the director chose Harshvardhan Kapoor to play this role, because Harsh wasn't required to act in this film, he just had to be himself! The entire film has been presented like a satire, talking about all the sensitive issues of our country with an added dose of humour. Chandan Roy Sanyal lends a powerful support to not just Vikram (Harshvardhan) but also to the film and is an absolute delight to watch. Radhika Madan once again gives an effortless performance, she enters the story quite late but makes a pretty good impact. A key problem with these movies is that they have taken inspiration from some very short stories, so there is always a scope for boredom to set in if you stretch that story into an hour long film. The movie feels long, but it does have its moments.

3. Forget Me Not

The first thing that I noticed in this film is what a fine young actor this Ali Fazal is. He has polished himself so well in the last few years, he should be talked about like other actors of his age, but unfortunately that is not the case. His popularity is nowhere close to actors like Ranbir, Ranveer or even non-actors like Kartik Aryan and Varun Dhawan. The movie starts of in a very stylized manner and moves along at a pretty good pace, but then it slows down and becomes confused as to where to go next, and how to proceed further, just like the lead character of the film. After a while you start wondering as to why is this story taking so long to reach its conclusion. The actual story by Satyajit Ray is quite short and simple, this film on the other hand added quite a few layers to the original story. I just feel the director waited way too long to unravel the story. Great acting by Ali Fazal, he is very convincing displaying every single state of mind Ipsit Nair goes through. Other actors have done a fine job, but the story doesn't offer them a lot to do. 'Forget Me Not' is strictly average.

4. Bahrupiya

Bahrupiya is the story of a man who feels rejected by the society and is of the firm belief that God has no interest in providing any kind of help to people, in fact all the God's enjoy watching human's go through all the hardships of life. 'God Vs Evil', and 'with great power comes great responsibility' are the themes integrated into the story. Kay Kay Menon, the man at the centre of all the action is as always amazing. The concept of telling stories in the form of an anthology initiated by Netflix, deserves to be praised not just for the unique stories that they offer but also for exposing the current generation to some of the finest acting talents of our country. Dibyendu as the Baba has done a pretty good job, he comes across as mysterious as well as scary. The scenes between Kay Kay Menon and Dibyendu Bhattacharya are really good. I wish they had not kept so many sex scenes in the film, I just didn't see the point of having them in the story. Watching 'Bahrupiya' with your family won't be easy because of all those scenes.